Welcome To The Black Parade
by KatieHerveaux
Summary: (Spoilers for Arkham City) Joker's empire may have fallen but the Clown Prince of Crime still has one more card up his sleeve. Even in the afterlife he has found a way to create chaos and mayhem. And all Batman can do is sit and watch as Gotham's end draws near. (Story of my OC, Joker's daughter. Hope you like her!) (Repost, will try to update more often).
1. Welcome to the Black Parade

**Welcome To The Black Parade**

"When I was a young boy,

**My father** took me into the city

To see a **marching band**."

"He said, "Son when you **grow up**,

would you be the **savior of the broken**,

the **beaten** and the **damned**?"

"He said "Will you **defeat them**,

your **demons**, and all the **non-believers**,

the plans that they have made?"

"Because one day **I'll leave you**,

A phantom to lead you in the summer,

**To join The Black Parade**."

-My Chemical Romance

The sound of blaring police cars filled the freezing air as day began to creep over the steel walls of Arkham. This was truly a night for the books. A marker in history claiming that this very night was the time in which my father so abruptly passed away. Why is this so important? Well what if I added the little detail that my father is the so called "Clown Prince of Crime"? What if I said that ever since I was a little girl he has been planning for this day to come? Well I guess I should start from the beginning…

My name (unfortunately) is Jade Jester Quinzel. Yes, I know my name is actually _**Jade Jester**_; you can thank my joke obsessed father for that one. But after being born into a family in which both your parents prance around in clown makeup beating up man-bats, you get used to it.

Dear old dad never paid much attention to me, pretty sad right? Well one day when I was about five years old and just able to comprehend words, father took me into Gotham City. He was talking all sorts of crazy that day, guess that's where I get it from. But once we arrived my body exploded with excitement. Father had brought me to the Annual Gotham Day Parade.

Of course we weren't in the actual crowd. I have a feeling the world's most wanted criminal would stick out of the festivities. But we did have a lovely view from an apartment building window just above. I can even remember pushing up on the tips of my toes to see what was to come. I was in complete awe as the drummers marched to the beat of their own drums and the dancing clowns tossed colorful confetti in the air.

My father standing right by my side began to question me "Do you like the silly clowns Jade"?

I nodded my head quickly with a huge smile on my face.

"What about the balloons?" he continued.

"Yeah Daddy!" I exclaimed.

"But what about the marching band, do you like them?" he said in his best fatherly voice.

"Yeah Dad, I think they're the best!" I answered.

He chuckled "Oh, is that right? Jade, what if I told you that you can have your very own marching band, hmm? Your very own parade, _just for you_".

"My own parade? But how will I get one" I asked.

Joker gave me that bone chilling grin of his as he pulled out a small box from his purple coat pocket. "All you have to do my darling is _press…this…button_" he hissed as he pointed down to the little red button on the box.

Something was up, that was for sure. But unfortunately I was too young and naïve to realize the danger before me. After all, he did promise an entire marching band, right?

I reached out my tiny fingers to grasp the small box. My father didn't let go until he was sure that I could hold on to it on my own. He giggled in delight as I stood near the window with the button under my thumb. Looking down I smiled at the thought of dancing around with my very own parade. _I will dance and sing and throw confetti in the air!_

But that's not what happened at all.

I let the weight of my thumb fall upon the little red button, smiling as I did so. My father burst out laughing like the mad man he is as the small box between my hands began to count down. _5…4…3…2…1…_

Blood curling screams echoed through the streets as bomb after bomb went off. I ran from the window into my father's leg which I held onto tightly. The people ran frantically through the streets praying and crying. Joker picked up my small crying frame and danced over to the window once more.

"Look Jade, look at what you've done! Isn't it just _glorious!_" he bellowed into my ear.

"No! No daddy! The people, they're…they're _dying!_" I cried into his shoulder, not wanting to look at the mayhem below.

Several more explosions, tons of wailing sirens, and billions of desperate cries flooded my ears.

I didn't want this. I wanted a parade full of silly clowns and colorful costumes. Not this, not people, innocent people dying before my eyes. I didn't want them to cry for mercy. I didn't want them to pray for their lives.

_But it was my fault._

All of it, my fault. I pressed the button, I wanted the parade. I was the one who stood there smiling as I pressed down on the round plastic button. And now it's I who am responsible for the murder of hundreds of people.

My father whispered into my ear "Their lives are a small price to pay my darling. For your future is now set. You will get your parade Jade, sooner or later; _you will get a black parade_…"

But that was then and this is now. And right now my father lies dead on top of a GCPD patrol car. And I stand still watching the chaos unfold before me. Thank God the Batman doesn't know about me yet, or he would be after me as well. Thought right now I believe he has some more important business to take care of. Something about Edward and him having hostages and an enigma machine?

Whatever, I have a destiny to fulfill. Grabbing the envelope that my father gave to me last week I headed down the dreary halls of the Sionis Steel Mill. Finally managing to open it I found a small key hidden inside. I recognized the key; it was to my father's private desk. Why would he give this to me? Shouldn't it have gone to my mother or maybe even a henchman? There was no time to ask questions, Harley will be back soon and I need to get in Joker's office and out with whatever my father wanted me to have.

I slipped inside the glum feeling office space. The bright green arrows still bolted to the floor. Retrieving the key from my pocket I slid it into the worn wooded desk. I could hear my mother's cries coming into the Steel Mill. Almost everything echoed through here.

Quickly I opened the small cabinet-like opening in the desk. I sighed, _is this really all he wanted to give me?_ Papers, just a huge stack of white and blue papers, maybe a book or two hidden beneath but mostly just papers. Why, _why couldn't he give me something more valuable? Like, money or a gold watch or a family heirloom?_

No, he just gave me some old stack of plans that he will now never get to carry out.

_Shit, Harley Quinn is getting closer; I need to get out of here!_ Grabbing the stack of papers I dashed out of the room and down the hall into the boiler room.

I stood in the office inside the boiler room, the quiet ramble of the bruised henchmen in the background. I actually found the papers my father gave me to be quite interesting, and confusing. There were blueprints for the Gotham Juvenile Detention Sector. Strange costumes designs, stuff The Joker would never wear. And a letter.

_Dear Jade,_

_Ever since you were born I have been planning something, something just for you. Do you remember that day when you were…oh how old were you? I guess my memory is not what it used to be. But do you remember that day when I brought you to the Annual Gotham City Parade? When you pressed the button? When explosion after explosion went of…how you killed thousands of people? You don't? Well I do! And do you want to know the thing I remember most Jade? What I remember most about the beautiful Gotham day was my promise to you. Well Jade, today is the day. The day you get your __**very own parade**__…_

_Love, Your Father_

My eyes weld up with tears, "No, I don't want to _remember_". I guess I forgot to mention a little something. After that day at the parade…I was never the _same_. Yup, my proudest moment was when I received my honorary degree of insanity at Arkham Asylum.

I wiped the salty water from my eyes and put down the letter.


	2. Falling Inside the Black

Welcome to the Black Parade: Chapter 2

Title: Falling Inside the Black

"Don't leave me **alone**

Cause I **barely see at all**

Don't leave me **alone**, I'm…"

"**Falling in the black.**

**Slipping** through the **cracks.**

Falling to the depths **can I ever go back**?"

"**Dreaming** of the way it used to be.

**Can you hear me**?"

"**Falling in the black.**

**Slipping** through the **cracks.**

Falling to the depths **can I ever go back**?

**Falling inside the black.**

**Falling inside, falling inside the black**."

-Skillet

Nightmares plagued my mind that night. I tossed and turned trying to keep myself awake, in hopes of never returning to the black pits of my imagination. But as the first light blue streaks of dawn began to claw at the sky, exhaustion finally won the battle.

It was cold, dark, and silent inside my dreams. Black ink with the thick texture of blood dripped down from my tear ducts to slip under my chin and pool on my chest. I laughed, not an insane blur of psychotic giggles but a puff of air from my lips to ensure that I was amused. By what, I have no idea. It could be fact that I was aware of my nightmarish state, or that I felt a flutter of anxiety in my stomach for I felt as if I was falling, or maybe it was the very idea of falling that made me smile.

I sank into an abyss of obscurity, unknown to me when my back would hit surface again. The world shut itself out and the only sounds were the screams of women and children in the distance. My skin turned a light gray color, reflecting the many years of hiding in the shadows. My hair turned the darkest black, enough to put a raven's feathers to shame. Whispers gathered around me, barely audible. They grew louder till I could finally make out their massage, "_black parade…the parade, the parade, the black parade. Black parade, join the black parade. Join us, joins us, come to the black parade!"_

They weren't whispers anymore. Each voice screamed it into my ear, taking turns torturing my mind. Louder and louder until I thought my ears would bleed.

I screamed. The sheets around me were covered in sweat and tears. My body shook and trembled.

In my head I sang to myself to calm my nerves as I looked out the window. The sun had risen but not much. I rose from the sheets and padded across the cold floors to the makeshift bathroom down the hall. I made sure to lock the door.

Warm water ran through my fingers as I splashed my face with water. Sighing I looked up into the mirror. I looked terrible, a nasty sheen on sweat and oil glistened off my skin, ugly purplish bags have formed under my half lidded eyes, and knots have evaded my greasy brown hair.

I needed a makeover. I grabbed some towels and placed them where I could reach as I checked the locked door again. You could never be too careful when you live in place where murderers and rapist reside.

The hot water felt like a heavenly waterfall from the sky. It seemed to wash away all the bad thoughts and sinful memories. That was, until the hallucinations came.

All I had to do was look down at the floor for the visions to start. No longer did clean refreshing water flow from the shower jet, instead a deep red substance lazily seeped onto the floors. My skin paled to that hideous gray color once again.

I shut the water off in a rush, grabbed a towel, and rubbed it against my body furiously, as if the towel would absorb the horrid gray color from my flesh.

Thank God the hallucinations stopped before I had to go out into the hall again because two henchmen stood outside the door chatting to each other.

"Gosh, I can't believe da' Boss kicked the can!" the shorter one stated.

"Yeah man, I never thought Big J would go. Especially so soon, I mean wes all knews he was sick and all…but it ain't like him to stay that way for long. Well, he did have us going wit the whole Clay Face as the Joker bit, but keep in mind that…hey, where you goin' sweet thing?" the tall more built one said.

I rolled my eyes and looked in their direction.

"Hey man, I-I don't think you should be talkin ta' her like dat, dats J's little girl" the short one piped up.

"Waddaya mean? J's dead, Harley won't mind, and I gots some steam to blow off. So you wanna have some fun wit da' girly or wat?" the beef head replied.

But before I could hear the other man's reply I was already locking the door to my bedroom. I didn't run away because I was afraid, it was more like I was tired and looked bad enough as it is, so why get into a fight?

While I was getting dressed I thought of possible candidates to help me with my little "makeover".

**A/N: Hey guys thanks for reading! Just in case you were wondering why this chapter took a more serious turn it's really because, well, Jade is the Joker's daughter! Mark Hamill described his way of voicing the Joker as going from one side of the emotional scale to the other so that's why I'm writing her this way. Also this specific chapter is based off the song "Falling Inside the Black" by Skillet. To me the song captured her level of insanity at the moment and where that level will be in the future!**

**Anyways, I had a little question to ask…Who would you guys like to give Jade a makeover? I'm having a hard time deciding and I want to make you guys happy…I was thinking maybe The Riddler cause he is soo fashionable!**

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think! **


	3. Teenagers

Welcome to the Black Parade: Chapter 3

Title: Teenagers

"They're gonna **clean up** your looks

With all the **lies in the books**

To make a **citizen** out of you

Because they sleep with a **gun**

And keep an **eye on you**, son

So they can watch all the things you do"

"Because the drugs never work

They're gonna **give you a smirk**

'Cause they got methods of **keeping you clean**

They're gonna **rip up** your heads,

Your aspirations to shreds

Another cog in the **murder machine**"

By: My Chemical Romance

"Ow…Ouch…Ah! Seriously Selina calm it down with the brush, you're gonna pull my scalp off!"

Selina Kyle rolled her cat-like eyes, "Oh please, and it isn't my fault your hair is more tangled than a rat's nest!"

Jade grumbled, "Whatever, you almost done?"

"Yes just hold on I have one more knot…There! All better!"

"Finally!" Jade whispered while hopping from the stool in Catwoman's apartment. "By the way this place looks pretty nice considering Two-Face blew it up, I guess the same can go for you too, HA!"

Catwoman shook her head, "You know sometimes you're more like your father than you think. Oh, and, sorry for your loss?"

Jade shrugged her shoulders, "What can I say I am his daughter, and thanks but I'm not gonna make a big deal about it. Speaking of the clown can I show you some papers I found in Joker's desk? He gave them to me but I have no idea what they are…"

"Sure let me take a look…" Selina said as she was handed a stack of paper.

Jade played with her new pony-tail nervously as Selina looked over the blueprints and designs. She was hoping that the Catwoman would have some sort of information on what this was all about.

"Well I don't know about these costume designs but this blueprint here kind of looks like the Gotham Juvenile Prison…I should know I broke Holly out of there plenty of times." Selina answered.

Juvenile Prison? Why did Joker give me blueprints to a juvenile prison? Ugh, everything in Arkham has to be so fucking cryptic!

"Oh well, I don't know what to do with that information. But I'll guess I'll be off then…tell you what I'll send you whatever cats come my way ok?" Jade laughed.

Catwoman smirked, "Goodbye Jade".

Back at the Steel Mill

Why would I need blueprints to an effing juvenile prison? Did I know someone in there? Did he know someone in there? Was I supposed to break someone out? God Dammit! Why couldn't the old loon just tell what he wanted me to do instead of going all Riddler on me!

I stepped back for a moment and looked at the other papers. And what are these costumes for? They seem so different from Joker's style…even Harley wouldn't where that! Let's see, okay they're all black, with buttons, most have a hat, basically a uniform style…except for this one.

I picked up one of the designs; it was defiantly different from the rest. The hat was more like a fedora, same color scheme, but it came along with boots, the jacket part was longer and the sleeves larger. I glanced at the measurements…MY measurements!

Gasping I latched onto the table for support. This is for ME? WHY?! AND HOW THE HELL DID HE EVEN GET MY MEASUREMENTS!

I stepped back and took a deep breath…Hmm, what if I had it made? I would need to get out of Arkham though and find someone who could make it. Let's just says the last time I tried to use a sowing machine I ended up killing three people and setting the house on fire, it wasn't pretty.

Looking out the window I spotted the escape hole Black Mask created to get out of Arkham. Maybe that was my ticket out?

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
